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Many people know that I have a very strong work ethic: I am respectful, I understand my place and my role, and I always stay motivated and interested in everything that I do. I am sure that many people have been challenged before by a coworker, supervisor, or even a customer/guest who claims that you are wrong or that you are doing something wrong. In the past when I was challenged, I kept a cool head, opened a conversation, and I learned from that experience. It is never okay to fight back or to continue an argument, and if you make your tone understanding and professional, the person who is talking to you usually calms down and changes their tone as well, embarrassed that they were so upset in the first place. No matter what, if you are accusing or being accused, you should keep a level head and be careful with your tone and word choice.
Recently, I have felt personally bullied by a working guest at CCF. A working guest is someone who comes for a brief period, donating money to the facility, and works general tasks as well as witnessing some of the events occurring at CCF. It is meant to be a learning experience for them, and sometimes we have working guests that are veterinarians, vet techs, or zookeepers, which is great because then they can give us another perspective. But usually, working guests come and watch, learning the routines and about the center, before they start completing tasks by themselves or introducing new ideas. This guest did not. From her first day, I felt belittled because of the way that she spoke to me, and she often told me to do other tasks instead of help complete the task I was on, which is strange to say to someone who has been at the fund for almost three months now.
I ignored the tone, thinking that she was not used to someone who was younger helping her to learn new tasks. It was not until she began to walk away from me while I was answering her question or make rude remarks to me in front of customers/guests where I became concerned. I started to ask my roommate if she saw the same things I did, thinking that maybe I was mistaken, but she said that she was not treated the same way and that she had been noticing her attitude towards me too.
In situations like these, I give this advice: Do not flash attitude back, remain calm and mature, and do not create sides. You do not want to start a battle because that does not help the organization in the end. Although, this is really hard to do when they continue to ignore you, speak to you like a child, and do things incorrectly, despite your suggestions. Sometimes, you can let them continue their attitude, but I found it most difficult when an animal's wellbeing was at stake.
At this point, I had to choose a staff member to confide in who would take action on my behalf and who would understand my troubles. I chose a strong staff member who has served as a role-model for me over these last few months, and she has been taking actions to make sure that the guest does not have the opportunity to speak to or treat me this way in front of staff members. I still work with this volunteer because I refuse to let other people struggle because someone has a personal issue with me. I have yet to ask the guest why she dislikes me, but I choose not to because I do not want to start an argument. I have yet to be defensive and aggressive, and I know that if she were to diminish me due to my age, I would explode.
You should always plan ahead: plan their moves, your moves, your responses. It makes it much easier when a situation arises because you already know what to do and how to do it. Other times, when you are unsure of what to do, you should always find someone experienced who may have had the same or similar experiences. All the staff members here have been supportive of me, listening to my stories and giving advice about what to do. I probably would be in misery without them, not because of the organization or what I do, but because of one person trying to make me feel like my role and contributions here have meant little.
I have learned that you may not always love the people you work with, but sometimes you just need to push through and find outlets of support and stress-relief. If you love what you do, keep doing it. No one should stop you from doing what you enjoy and what helps others.
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